Putinʼs intention to turn energy into another weapon against Western countries, in particular, against the European Union, and thus influence politicians, has failed.
This was the conclusion reached by the Bloomberg agency, which analyzed how European countries are passing the current heating season.
Warm weather was one of the key reasons that failed the energy terror. This was also facilitated by the wide diversification of gas supply, primarily liquefied, which European countries managed to organize due to a sharp reduction in the supply of pipeline gas from Russia. In addition, the situation with the supply of gas was positively affected by the reduction in the consumption of electricity and gas directly in Europe.
Gas prices in Europe have already fallen below pre-war levels. On Monday, January 9, a thousand cubic meters of gas at the largest gas hub in the Netherlands traded at a level of about $770 — this is the figure for February 2022. Also, the still relatively low demand for LNG in China, where the Russian Gazprom partially redirected its capacity after losing the European market, helped to lower prices.
Lower energy prices also had a positive impact on Western economies. According to the latest consumer price index data, the central banks of Europe and the United States note a slowdown in inflation, which allows the European and American economies to avoid a severe recession while maintaining growth.
“As far as we can tell, the danger of a complete economic collapse, the collapse of European industry has been averted,” said German Economy Minister Robert Habeck, whose country could be the worst hit in Europe by gas disruptions.
- In September, Russian Gazprom announced the suspension of gas supplies through the Nord Stream pipeline, which is the main gas pipeline for supplies to the EU. Due to this, gas prices in the EU have increased significantly. Later, supplies were restored, but Russia already significantly reduced supplies to Europe, in particular, completely stopped doing it through Ukraine.
- Against this background, the European Union began to develop a mechanism for limiting the price of Russian gas.